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Monday, November 13, 2017

Who’s Really in Charge of the Afghanistan War?

In June, our Tweety
Bird president tweeted this message to members of the U.S. Army: “Proud to be
your commander-in-chief.”

Actually, Trump is
only the delegator-in-chief — he’s passed to subordinates a president’s most
solemn duty of guiding our nation’s war policies, including what wars to be in.

For example, he’s
turned the mess in Afghanistan over to the military brass, apparently hoping he
can wash his hands of responsibility, then blame the generals if things go
wrong.

Leaving specific
battlefield tactics to military professionals is one thing. But deciding
to expand a war is a presidential burden, as is the duty of
fully explaining to the public why more war is warranted.

Just as he evaded military service during the Vietnam War,
“Commander Trump” is shirking these basic presidential duties today. He’s
letting non-elected generals decide to hurl another 4,000 of our men and women
into the Afghanistan War, with no explanation of how adding these troops to a
losing war effort will make any difference.

We’ve already spent 16 years, the lives of 2,304 American
troops, and more than a trillion dollars on this war, so it’s especially
maddening that Trump’s designated deciders have no new strategy for “winning,”
won’t tell us how many more years and lives they intend for us to spend there,
and can’t even explain why America is still in Afghanistan.

By refusing to make decisions himself, the waste of lives and
money will continue, ironically turning the Afghan debacle into Trump’s War.

At last, though, a bipartisan group of House members, led by Republican Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina,
are saying “enough” — no more money to finance the Afghan political and
military mess unless Trump, or whoever is in charge, can tell us why it’s worth
more of America’s blood and treasure to be there.

OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and
public speaker. He’s also the editor of the populist newsletter, The
Hightower Lowdown. Distributed by OtherWords.org.